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Fancy building myself a little kicker for messing about in the garden. What's the best sort of wood to use for sides, ramp surface, and braces?
Also, any tips on getting the shape of the ramp 'right'?
Ply used to be the wood of choice in the late '90s, but this may have been due to its building site availability.
Any wood is ok for the structure as long as it’s strong enough, just use anything you can get your hands on cheaply.
Ply is still used as it’s cheap and easily bent to the curvature you need. Make the sides of the ramp with the profile you need (make one and draw round it to make the other side) then brace across with strip timber then attach ply for the ramp surface onto that.
Bear in mind you need different radius curves for different types of sort. Skating tends to need tighter bends, the larger the wheels the gentler the slope. Not a hard and fast rule as it depends on what sort of ramp you are making but it tends to be true.
Good practice to have some sort of metal protection for the top and bottom of ramp to avoid wear to the edges.
Oh, and a kicker? To flat? Is this the 1970’s? 😉
Oh, and a kicker? To flat? Is this the 1970’s?
Four bricks and a scaffold board is sufficient to clear your friends lying next to your "sweet jump".
Oh, and a kicker? To flat? Is this the 1970’s?
It's going to be in my garden! I'll probably build a landing ramp at some point too, but there's a couple of spots that I can use with a bit of a downslope for a landing. It'll be a fairly mellow kicker, not something that's going to throw you up too high. The rainbow kicker from the Scotty Cranmer YouTube videos is what gave me the idea (if that means anything to anyone), so thinking of something of similar size and shape.
What thickness ply for the sides and ramp surface?
[url= https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5547/12660419064_f614487f43_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5547/12660419064_f614487f43_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/khKXvj ]Ramp No. 2 under construction[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr
18mm OSB & a few layers of 3mm WBP is what i used.
There is an art to the radius, i'll see if i can find it.
[url= https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7387/11437749033_59aee3ed96_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7387/11437749033_59aee3ed96_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/iqHsix ]IMAG1428[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/martinddd/ ]martinddd[/url], on Flickr
To scribe an arc you can tie a length of string to a pencil and attach the other end to a stake in the ground etc.
A good kicker has about a foot of height for 3 foot length.
Qwerty - that looks great.